Grain-heater.



No. 670,638. Patented Mar. 26,1l90l.

M. W. HUNT.

GRAIN HEATER.

(Application filed Oct. 2, 1900.\

(No Model.)

WITNESSES IN MENTOR n4: Mums versus no. PKOYO-LITNO" wxsumcmm. n. c

UNITE 'mnrns PATET I Price TO NORDYKE dc MARMON COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

GRAIN-HEATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 670,638, dated March 26, 1901; Application filed October 2, 1900. Serial No. 31,747. (No model-l To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARTIN W. HUNT, acitizen of the United'States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Heaters, of which the following is a specification.

In the preparation of grain for grinding it is in many cases of great advantage to heat and thus soften the kernels, thus rendering their reduction less difficult. It is especially desirable in the case of corn, where the process involves degermination, as in the preparation of brewers stock, where the removal of the germ containing the fusel-oil is of paramount importance. Steam is the agent usually used for distributing the heat in grainheaters, and considerable difficulty has heretofore been experienced in producing a heater.

in which the steam should be so distributed as to thoroughly beat all the grain without overheating any of it and at the same time keep the steam itself freefrom contact with the grain, so that the same shall not be unduly dampened. V

' The object of inysaid invention is to produce a grain-heater in which the suggested difficulties are overcome; and said invention consists in the construction and arrangement embodied in the hereinafter-described machine. As above stated, steam is the agent usually used for distributing the heat in such a machine and is what I expect to employ; but obviously hot air or any other suitable medium may be employed, and I therefore shall use the term steam hereinafter in the sense of heat carrying or distributing medium, and desire to be so understood.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof, and on which similar reference characters indicate similar parts, Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional view of a grain-heater embodying my said invention; Fig. 2, a top or plan view of the same; Fig. 3, a horizontal sectional view as seen when looking downwardly from the dotted line 3 3 in Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 a similar view looking downwardly from the dotted line 4 4.

The outer casing or body 1 of my improved heater is preferably cylindrical in form and composed of sheet metal. Near the ends it has heads 2 3, which are perforated to receive smallertubes 4, which are secured therein much as fines are secured in a steam-boiler. These tubes 4 are quite numerous and are preferably disposed as illustrated especially in Fig. 2. The grain in being heated passes inside these tubes 4, entering at the top and passing out at the bottom. Said tubes are steam-tight and are connected to the heads 2 and 3 by steam-tight joints, so that no moisture from the steam, which is outside these tubes, can reach the grain which is within them.

Within the tubes 4 are pipes 5, which extend from below the bottom nearly to the top of said tubes 4. These pipes are also steam tight, and the carpet thereto are conical in form, so that the grain may pass down freely over them, and they are also provided with braces or stays 7, by whichthey are supported strongly in place. The lowerends of said pipes are connected to a steam-tight structure 8, which conveniently is annular in form and is. disposed in the lower end of the apparatus. The structure 8 contains a chamber or a series of communicating chambers, with which the lower ends of said pipes 5 also communicate. Either in the same structure 8 or in a separate similar structure, preferably the former, are other steam-tight chambers 10, from which comparatively small pipes 11 lead up within and nearly to the top of the tubes 5. These pipes 11 are open at their upper ends and adapted to discharge into the pipes 5 at that point. The structures 8 are shown as supported in place on the points of adjustable screws 25, carried in brackets 26. Other screws 27 serve to hold it in proper relation to the outer casing.

The main steam-supply pipe 12 has a branch 13, which enters the main heater shell or casing 1, and a second branch 14, which enters the chamber or chambers 10. The steam is thus supplied both to the space-within the heater-body-l, surrounding the pipes 4, and through the chamber and pipes 11 to the inside of the pipes 5. the grain is the space between the outer surfaces of the pipes 5 and the inner surfaces of the tubes 4, so that the grain itself passes As the passage-way for IOO through in the form of cylindrical streams, the body of grain at any point is thin in crosssectional area, so that nearly all the grain is in immediate contact with the heated tubes or pipes, these being thus both inside and outside the stream of grain as it passes through. Exhaust-pipes 15 and 16 lead oft", respectively, from the interior of the heater body or casing 1 and from the chamber or chambers 9. The passage of the steam, (or other heat-carrying agent,) as will be readily understood from the foregoing explanation, is by way of the branch 13 to directly within the casing and fills all the interstices around and among the tubes 4, heating them from the outside, and by way of the branch 14 through the chamber or chambers 10 and the pipes 11 to within the pipes 5, into which it discharges at points near the tops 6 of said pipes, filling them and heating them from the inside, and thence discharging through the chamber or chambers 9 and the exhaust-pipe 16. As the pipes 11 extend to nearly the tops of the pipes 5, a free circulation of the steam in said pipes 5 is compelled, so that a uniform heat is maintained.

Attached to the lower end of the heatercasing 1 is a hopper 17, by means of which the grain is conveyed away. At a suitable point within this hopper is a support 18, on which a cone-like device 19 is mounted, and the grain in descending will come in contact with the interior of the hopper 17 and the exterior of this cone l9. Said cone is supported by screw-supports 20, so that it may be raised and lowered as desired. It is, as shown, located centrally, and its surface bears substantially the same relation to the central group of grain-conveying tubes that the interior of the hopper does to the outer group of grain-conveying tubes. The purpose of this cone 19 is to retard the flow of the grain through the inner group of tubes to the same extent that the flow of grain through the outer tubes is retarded by the hopper. If it were not for this, as will be readily seen, the central part of the grain in the hopper would have a tendency to pass down and be discharged more rapidly than that around the edge, and thus have less retarding effect upon the supply from above.

Exact adjustment is readily attained by means of the adjustingscrews 20. Thus all the grain is held back equally, has the same rate of motion through the heater, and so comes out in uniform condition.

Having thus fully described. my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure tral tubes constituting grain-passages that the walls of the hopper are to the outer tubes constituting grain-passages, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination, in a grain-heater, of an outer casing, heating-tubes extending vertically up through said casing, a hopper connected to the lower end of said casing out through which the grain passes, and a coneshaped floW-retarder centrally positioned in said hopper.

3. The combination, in a grain-heater, of a casing having heads, tubes arranged within said casing the ends whereof are secured to said heads, a structure at the lower end of said casing containing chambers and having openings for the passage of grain, pipes leading up from one of said chambers to within the said tubes, smaller pipes leading up from the other chamber to within said pipes and discharging thereinto near their upper ends, heating-pipes connected with the last-named chambers and with the casing or body of the structure, a hopper secured to the casing and extending below the structure, and a centrally-positioned flow-retarding device within said hopper below said structure beneath the passages for grain therein, substantially as shown and described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 22d day of September, A. D. 1900.

MARTIN W. HUNT.

Witnesses:

CHESTER BRADFORD, JAMES A. WALsH. 

